Salvatore Tolentino

Salvatore Tolentino (16 March 1800-7 June 1874) was a Colonel in the Mexican Army who was a veteran of the Mexican War of Independence, Texan Revolution, Mexican-American War, and Franco-Mexican War.

Biography
Tolentino was born in Tamaulipas to a Spanish family of Italian descent. He was made a Lieutenant in the Spanish Army at the age of twenty-one during the Mexican War of Independence but he joined forces with the revolutionaries after surrendering over his command of 800 troops. He proceeded to achieve the rank of Captain during the Texan Revolution and in the Mexican-American War was commissioned as a Colonel of the 41st Mexican Infantry Regiment. He was wounded in the Battle of Churubusco with a shot to the thigh and was sent to lead a small unit of militia back in the capital after recovering from his wounds.

During the 1850s and the years following the Mexican-American War, Tolentino was a drill instructor for the Mexican Army. In the 1860s he sided with the Benito Juarez rebels during the Franco-Mexican War after a spell as the commander of Anti-Guerrilla units for Maximiliano I of Mexico and his last act as a soldier was to expel the government troops from Fort Lupe in 1867.